We had a lot of fun riding the mountain when testing Salomon's The Villain, as although coined as a full-on freestyle jib stick, it fully locks in to give good edge control too. This is mainly because of the 'Rock Out Camber' profile that very much gives a traditional camber feel ride. This does have consequences though as it is not the most forgiving of hybrid boards and the Villain will rob you of any dignity if you lose concentration and catch an edge.
Having said that, we felt it was effortless to ride and didn't have to overly work to get results out of it. It's a very stable board using Triax Fiber to give flexibility and response, so it is very easy to spin which is nice for all those side hits we had in Kaunertal during the test week.
The Villain is not the fastest board we have tested, but it did carry its speed very well compared to other freestyle boards.
Even though this is an easy board to ride, we would recommend it more towards the advanced rider as the camber and flex would really compliment an advanced park rider.
